DR BELINDA KIELY

An oncologist and senior research fellow at The University of Sydney’s NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, Dr Belinda Kiely sees firsthand the hope and heartache of women fighting breast cancer.

MY VERY FIRST TERM WORKING AS AN INTERN WAS ONCOLOGY and I loved it. I was so inspired by how helpful the doctors were towards patients who were going through some terrible situations. I just knew then that it’s what I wanted to do.

MY PARENTS ALWAYS SUPPORTED ME and said I could do anything. Some fields of medicine are harder for women to succeed in, but I’ve been lucky in my journey. Studying medicine, we had a large number of women at university and saw senior female oncologists being successful.

I SPECIALISE IN BREAST CANCER. The survival rates are good, so most of the women I treat are cured. But I have days when I burst into tears because I’ve lost someone

I looked after for a long time. That part of the job is very difficult.

I’D LIKE TO SEE NO WOMEN DYING FROM BREAST CANCER. I want to see better treatments. I hate that the large part of treatment is still chemo, which causes horrible side effects like hair loss. A lot of the treatments cause early menopause. It’s a loss of femininity in a sense, which is difficult to deal with.

I’M IN A JOB WHERE I SEE PEOPLE WHO JUST WANT TO GET TO THEIR NEXT BIRTHDAY. Life is short. You’ve got to make sure you take time for non-work stuff. I don’t see anyone who’s dying and says, “I wish I had spent more time working.”

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Show your support at bcia.org.au